Introduction
Essentially, the two step theory suggests that dissemination of information takes place in two stages. In this light, the theory contends that the social structure comprises of the opinion leaders and the general public. According to the theory, the opinion leaders are the people who get first hand information about the eventualities that take place (Ginzburg, 1969).
These eventualities are obtained from the traditional media including the television, radios, newspapers, movies, and the magazines among others (Katz, 1995). In addition, it suggests that the community comprises of the general public who are not exposed to this information coming from the traditional media.
The general public might be unable to consume this information from the traditional media due to the language barrier, preference of technology, and lack of time among other things (Gray, 2008). For example, the old people in the developing countries do not understand English, yet it is used in most of the traditional media (Katz & Lazarsfeld, 2006).
They can, therefore, get information through the opinion leaders who can understand and translate the information to an understandable language. In principle, therefore, the opinion leaders are responsible of disseminating the information they have gathered to the rest of the people in the community. This implies that communication takes place in a process that comprises of the two stages. In fact, the name of the theory reflects the nature of this process.
Surprisingly, the present digital age has introduced a special aspect purporting the two step flow of information. The young people have shifted to the use of social networks including Google+, Twitter, and Facebook among others. Most young people have shifted from the traditional media completely and used most of their time on social sites.
This is due to the accessibility of the social sites from portable devices such as the mobile phones and tablets. This implies that the social networks are main platforms for disseminating information that the digital age seems to abandon. In this essay, we will focus on Facebook as a tool that facilitates the two step flow of information.
Literature Review
Existence of the Theory
Facebook has captured the interest of many people across the world due to the ease of access and use. In 2011, Facebook had about 745 million users where 50 percent of them were logged into their account on daily bases (Harvell, 2012). The statistics show that Facebook users spend about seven hundred billion minutes on Facebook.
This popularity has made Facebook to be a platform of advertising businesses by entrepreneurs and advancing political agendas (Joshi, Rutledge & Morley, 2011). In light of discussing how opinion leaders share political opinions with the entire public on social media, it is important to understand the existence of the theory on social media.
The politicians always seek fame amongst the public in order to satisfy their political ambitions (Banfield, 1961). This implies that they must attract huge masses of people in order to gain influence. However, most of the young people, who comprise of the largest portion of the population, have shifted from the traditional paradigm of obtaining information from the mass media. They prefer the social networks that are more interactive than the traditional media.
As a result, the politicians have captured the opinion leaders who can articulate the issues that are presented in the traditional media on Facebook (Kirkpatrick, 2010). This implies that the information that is available on the traditional media is also available to the people of the digital age. The opinion leaders follow the information from the traditional media and post it on their timelines.
Some people, commonly known as the bloggers, follow the mass media on real time and post on Facebook immediately. Consequently, the information is available to the people who have common political jurisdiction. Since the information flow in two stages, where the opinion leaders obtain information from the media and post it on Facebook for users to see, the communication follows the two step theory.
This explains the manner in which the opinion leaders use the theory of two step flow of information on Facebook. In this case, it is clear that a part of some Facebook users are addicted strongly to the site that they cannot consume first hand information from the traditional media.
Dynamics of the Theory
There are various dynamics that are used on Facebook, by the opinion leaders, in order to disseminate information from the mass media. These dynamics are based on the various provisions that the Facebook has allowed users to utilize. These include Facebook groups, pages, advertisements, timelines and sharing.
Timelines
Facebook allows its users to have timelines for posting their personal feelings and sharing them with their friends. The opinion leaders register with Facebook and use their timelines to post the political information to the other users. In this light, Facebook leaves a space where the opinion leader, just like any other user, can either write in text or upload photos and videos. Additionally, it allows the user to choose their privacy options in terms of the people who can view the information.
The user can either allow the friends or the general public, which include all people on Facebook, to see the information. This implies that the opinion leader can choose people in order to focus on the relevant people especially when considering the political jurisdiction. In many cases that involve the opinion leaders, they try to attain fame and popularity. Also, they seek to earn respect among the people whom they want to influence.
This respect enables them to have as many friends as possible. When friends are too many, the social site allows people to follow the users on their timeline. This implies that an opinion leader can still remain visible to people even when the number of friends are more than the maximum limit.
The timelines act as the starting point for all opinion leaders who wish to disseminate information from the traditional media on Facebook. In this sense, timeline is one of the most essential dynamics for applying the theory of two step flow.
Facebook Pages
The second tool that can be used by the opinion leaders in order to facilitate the dynamics of applying this theory is the Facebook pages. On these pages, people can subscribe or like the page in order to view information from them. However, some pages are public and can be viewed by any person on the network. When opinion leaders become popular, by having many friends, it is the next step that they can take in order to spread information from the traditional media.
They can create personal pages and invite their friend to like the page. Since they are already popular, their friends will like their pages quickly and increase the effectiveness of the fan page. Most opinion leaders pay some amount to Facebook in order to advertise their page. As a result, the page is advertised to all users and to friends. This ensures that the page is liked by many people.
The opinion leaders can articulate various eventualities that happen around their jurisdiction on this page. This means that all people who have liked the page can view the information that is posted by the opinion leader. If the page is sponsored, Facebook can allow more people to see the post.
For example, the post can be seen by the friends of all people who have liked the page. As a result, the information is spread to many people who use Facebook as a social site. Therefore, Facebook fan pages can act like a tool for the implementation of two step flow of influence.
Facebook Groups
Human beings were created as social beings who seek to relate, speak, and work together with their colleagues (Winston & Wilson, 2004). While the digital age introduces new aspects of technology, people do not change their mentality. This implies that human beings use technology within the limit of their nature. As a result, people will never seize to embrace the social aspect due to the elimination of the analogue error.
In consistency with this reality, Facebook allows its user to create groups using their accounts. The user can make a group and invite the target population to join the group. In that group, members can share ideas about businesses, education, and politics among many other issues. In fact, the opinion leaders prefer to make groups rather than pages especially when they are targeting people with similar objective, jobs and residences (Veer, 2008).
This can be attributed to the interactive aspects of the groups as compared to the pages. The interactive aspect is facilitated by the ability of the members to post issues unlike pages that allow the followers to comment about the issues raised by the administrator of the page.
In relation to two step flow of influence, opinion leaders can use Facebook groups that target people with the same interest. For example, an opinion leader can make a group bearing the name of a political territory like a county or state. The people of that county have a common political interest.
As a result, people from that county will join the group since it has a sense of belonging and develops an aspect of personal attachment. The opinion leader can post information from the group making it visible to members. This makes it possible for the citizens to follow information from traditional media through Facebook and achieve the two step influence.
Advertisement
Advertisement is the most important aspect of all issues that need attention to the general public. In the analogue age, advertisement was done through posters, bill boards, radios, and television among others (Burges, 1997). While the world is shifting to a digital age, the need for advertisement remains a pivotal aspect of human life. In this light, we must accept that the digital age has not eliminated the analogue age.
This implies that the people who use analogue adverts need the opinion leaders to spread influence on the digital platform. This factor creates a need for using the two step flow of influence (Ginzburg, 1969). In this case, the opinion leaders act like a bridge between the analogue and digital platforms. They access the issues on the analogue adverts and transfer them to the digital platforms.
In essence, Facebook is one of the most popular platforms for digital advertisement that is being used to create a two step flow of influence. For example, an opinion leader can advertise or create influence for political preference (Davies & Hagger, 1991). In this case, they can make pictorial presentation of the analogue adverts and post them on Facebook for people to see them.
Facebook can charge the advertiser for the purpose of sponsoring the adverts to the relevant people on Facebook. In fact, sponsored adverts do better than the general adverts that are made without advertisement fee (Dunay & Krueger, 2010). Therefore, it is very clear that the two step flow of influence can work through advertisement on Facebook.
Formulation of Research
A research question is a beginning point that creates the entire foundation for a research paper. In this case, there are various questions that can form the basis of this research (Lester, 1992). First, we understand that influence must be timely and cheap (Schramm, 1960). However, the two step flow of influence take place in two stages. This makes it essential for us to find the efficiency of the two step flow of influence in relation to cost and time. This aspect will need us to concentrate on a question that addresses time and cost.
- How effective, in terms of cost and time, is the use of two step flow of influence as compared to other forms of influence?
However, this question can present two possibilities of the research outcomes. The outcomes can either purport its effectiveness or suggest its ineffectiveness. If the research concludes that it is not effective in terms of time and cost, we have to proceed through formulating another question.
- If not, how can we integrate traditional media and digital Facebook to reach the people directly?
References
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